NATCHEZ — Monthly sales tax collections for the City of Natchez are up for the eighth month in a row this fiscal year.

Overall collections for March were approximately $483,100, up slightly from the approximately $473,800 collected in March of the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Sales tax numbers for May reflect collections in March. Collections are reported two months after the fact.

Food and lodging tax collections for March were up 16.4 percent over last fiscal year, with approximately $36,600 collected this year and $31,500 in March of the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Numbers show that the $2 hotel and bed and breakfast occupancy tax collections were down 5 percent from last March, but Natchez City Clerk Donnie Holloway and Natchez Convention Center Director Walter Tipton said they do not believe the $2 tax numbers are completely accurate.

“Generally the numbers trace each other, so if the food and lodging tax and overall sales tax are up, the $2 tax should also be up,” Tipton said.

Tipton said the convention center had its best March to date this year. He said the center had several big back-to-back events and conferences in March, including the Isle of Capri’s sold-out Oak Ridge Boys concert, the Mississippi chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation’s banquet and Alcorn State University’s Small Farmers Conference and others.

Holloway said he believes Spring Pilgrimage boosted sales tax collections in March, as well. Natchez Pilgrimage Tours Director Marsha Colson said Spring Pilgrimage numbers were down from last year, which she said was the biggest year for Pilgrimage in a long time.

“It’s a little unfair to compare this year to last year because it was such a big year, but we’re still up over 2010, and we had a good year,” she said.

Holloway said he believes the $2 tax collections do not match the other collections because some bed-and-breakfast owners pay their sales tax on a quarterly basis. He also said some business owners’ sales tax forms may have not made it by the deadline.

Holloway said he still believes the city is on track to have higher sales tax collections for the entire 2011-2012 fiscal year than last fiscal year.

The total collections for the 2010-2011 fiscal year were approximately $5.1 million, and collections for this fiscal year so far are approximately $3.5 million. The fiscal year ends Sept. 30.